Ever since the Earth was formed, life has depended on our oceans to survive. This is where life on Earth began, and without the ocean, life as we know it would no longer exist.

The water on Earth came in the form of steam, as the Earth was cooling down; steam from under the Earth’s crust was released through volcanic eruptions, along with many other gases. It then came down in the form of rain, the Earth rained for thousands of years, filling up the oceans. However, this only accounted for about 50% of the water on Earth today. The remaining body of water that is found on the earth came from comets. Because the solar system was still forming, thousands of debris was flying around and the Earth was constantly hit by comets.

A comet is a small solar system body, most commonly known for its tail. Comets are made up of collections of dust and rocky particles but most importantly, a comet is made up of about 50% ice. This was discovered when NASA purposefully crashed a probe into a comet, witnessing a magnificent sight as thousands of litres of water sprayed out into space. Given that these comets can range from a few hundred metres to tens of kilometres, when they travel into the Earths atmosphere, there is a lot of potential water for our oceans.

Comets travel an extremely elongated orbit around our sun. When the comet flies close enough to the sun, we are able to see them. This is because the heat vaporises some of the ice which then causes a “fuzzy atmosphere” effect. This effect gives the comet its tail and makes it viewable by the naked eye. Without this effect, comets can only be seen through a telescope, and even then, they are still very hard to spot.

With the combination of steam from under the Earths crust and the excessive amounts of comets which would have been hitting the Earth as it was forming, this explains the origin of Earth’s oceans. However, this does not explain why they are so important to life on Earth. There are many reasons as to explain why the ocean is essential to life. There are two of the main reasons for this; one of them is ocean currents.

The ocean’s current plays such a major part on how the Earth functions that without it, life on Earth would suffer severely. We know this because it has happened before. The ocean’s current basically circulates life around the globe, achieved by its ability to carry heat and cycle nutrients throughout the globe. Warm water from the equator gets carried along the top of the water to the Arctic, where the water is frozen. It then is dropped to the bottom of the ocean where it follows the ocean floor back down to the Equator. Then it heats back up, rising to the surface and gets carried back to the Arctic. This is an endless cycle. Ocean currents are responsible for the warmer temperature in Western Europe, as well as the Antarctica’s ability to support plant and animal life in such large numbers. A disruption of these currents would likely cause mass extinction.

The second reason used to explain the ocean’s importance in maintaining Earth life, is perhaps the world’s most important creature, Phytoplankton. Phytoplankton’s importance lies in its ability to produce oxygen. Like plants, Phytoplankton takes in energy through the process of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is a process used by phytoplankton and land vegetation that converts carbon dioxide in to organic compounds, (mostly sugar), using the energy from sunlight. By using this process, these organisms have the ability create there own food, as long as they are in contact with sunlight. Then they release oxygen as a waste product, therefore, making it vital for all life on Earth.

Most people believe that plants produce most of the oxygen on Earth. In actual fact, around 50% of the oxygen produced from photosynthesis comes from Phytoplankton. From this we can understand, that the loss of the Phytoplankton’s habitat, being the ocean, would devastate all life on Earth due to a massive oxygen shortage. A possible event that could cause this destruction of the Phytoplankton’s habitat lays in the oceans currents.

If global warming continues, the Arctic will heat up enough so that it is unable to cool the water sufficiently. This would prevent the water sinking to the bottom of the ocean, and hence the ocean’s current would stop. This would be what is known as a stagnant ocean. Simply put, water stagnation occurs when water stops flowing. Some creatures prefer stagnant water conditions, including sulphuric bacteria, mosquito larvae and some species of frog. However, there is also a more dangerous chemical which can be produced from stagnant water. It is known as hydrogen sulphide and it is believed to be the culprit for the biggest known extinction in Earths history.

Hydrogen sulphide is a highly toxic and flammable gas. It tends to accumulate at the bottom of poorly ventilated spaces, such as the bottom of a stagnant ocean, as it is denser than air. It is a very pungent chemical at first; however, it quickly deadens the sense of smell which can catch its victims unaware. It was this chemical that scientists believe caused the Permian Mass Extinction 250 million years ago.

The Permian is a geological period beginning 299 million years ago and ending 48 million years later. It was just after the Carboniferous period and is most famous for its end which was caused by a mass extinction event. The continents back then were all in one land mass called Pangaea. Because of this, the interior land mass became hot and dry because it was so far away from the sea. The climate was also considered hotter due to an increase in volcanic activity.

The creatures that lived during the Permian period were very diverse. A great evolutionarily expansion was taking place during this time because the Earth was gradually getting warmer. The communities began to become increasingly complex and there was much variety. Unfortunately, a lot of this quick and intricate development would be in vain. The survivors of this period would live on to become the first dinosaurs in the Triassic period.

What happened in between the Permian and the Triassic period is known as the Permian Mass Extinction, believed to have been caused by the ocean currents stopping and the ocean becoming stagnant. This turned the entire ocean floor in to a producer of hydrogen sulphide. As it filled the oceans, it poisoned everything, killing 95% of all marine life in the Permian period. Then rising out of the ocean it continued on to the land and began to devastate life on land. The Earth became a toxic and inhospitable wasteland where even the air was deadly. The sulphide also severely weakened the ozone layers and exposed life on Earth to extremely high levels of UV radiation. 70% of all life on land was killed.

For the next 500,000 thousand years the Earth was very quiet and almost empty. After such a radical impact on the life on Earth it took 6-7 million years for the Earth to recover. There was very little range in diversity and scarce food sources for the life left on Earth.

The reason the oceans stopped and caused this massive destructive wave on all life on Earth is because of the warming during the Permian period. This caused it to eventually stop the water from cooling and stop the ocean currents. This is a clear indication of the deadly effects that can result from Global Warming. Out of all the mass extinction phases to come to Earth, by far the worst was the one caused by Global Warming.

Today, humans are increasing the temperature of the globe from activities such as fossil fuel burning and deforestation, which then increases concentrations of greenhouse gases. What happened in the Permian period is an obvious signal of the dangers behind global heating. If we continue to abuse our planet, it won’t be long before the same thing happens again. Without the ocean, there is no life.

Ben Spencer